Earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan kills at least 12 people

 

Earthquake in Pakistan

After a powerful earthquake shook large portions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, at least 12 people died and over 200 were injured.

Buildings were damaged, landslides were triggered, and people fled into the streets as a result of the 6.5-magnitude quake.

It struck Tuesday evening, centering in a mountainous region in the north-east of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.

India could feel the tremors emanating from the remote Jurm Valley.

The tremor was terrifying. After rushing out of her fifth-floor apartment, Kabul resident Khatera told the AFP news agency, "I had never felt such a tremor in my life."

In the Pakistani valley region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine confirmed deaths were reported.

A spokesperson for the country's health ministry reported that three others had been killed in Afghanistan. According to AFP, one of the victims in the Laghman province, close to Pakistan's border, was a child.

When the earthquake struck, many families were celebrating the Persian New Year, or Norwuz.

Emergency personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told AFP that the damage found so far had been less severe than anticipated.

However, relief and rescue efforts are likely to be slowed down by the affected areas' remoteness and rugged terrain.

After the earthquake, many people in the affected areas slept outside in near-freezing temperatures for fear of aftershocks. When they felt the shaking, some had fled their homes barefoot.

In the capital of Islamabad, an immense multi-story private block was cleared after colossal breaks showed up in the structure.

Phone lines have been disrupted, and landslides have blocked the highway in Pakistan's worst-hit Swat region.

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, has requested that disaster agencies take immediate measures to aid individuals.

According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, tremors were felt over a 1,000-kilometer region that includes Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, India, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Due to its location at the intersection of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, this area is more susceptible to earthquakes.

After a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Afghanistan's Paktika province in June of last year, the country's deadliest in nearly a quarter of a century, more than 1,000 people were killed.